PHILADELPHIA — A short bus ride down the New Jersey Turnpike turned out to be the Devils’ toughest road trip yet this season.

After winning their first nine games away from home, the Atlantic Division leaders fell one victory short of tying the all-time NHL record for road victories at the start of a season when they fell to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, last night at the Wachovia Center.

The record of 10-0 still belongs to the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres.

“For me, it wasn’t even the streak,’’ defenseman Bryce Salvador said. “If you lose, you lose, whether it’s 10 in a row or one game. It’s two points. It would’ve been nice to take two points from those guys. That’s what hurts.”

Flyers goalie Ray Emery stopped 34 of 36 Devils shots. Emery was also the goalie for the Ottawa Senators back on Nov. 18, 2006, when the Sens stopped the Sabres’ streak.

In addition to losing a share of the record, the Devils saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end. It was their first loss since Oct. 28 against the Sabres.

“You know it’s going to happen one day,” said coach Jacques Lemaire, who was ill but coached nevertheless while wearing a scarf wrapped around his neck. “The thing with this is you have to bounce back, get focused in the next game and win it.”

Trailing by two goals, the Devils pulled Martin Brodeur and tried to make a desperate comeback in the final seconds. They got a goal from Zach Parise during a scrum in the crease with six-tenths of a second remaining.

During the play, Jamie Langenbrunner wound up on top of Emery and was sucker-punched several times by Scott Hartnell.

“We pulled our goalie and were trying to jam the net,” Patrik Elias said. “Jamie wasn’t doing anything uncalled for. He ended up on top of their goalie, but a couple of guys did some things that don’t belong in the game. Especially after the whistle. We had guys sucker-punching after the whistle. Unbelievable.”

Langenbrunner said he wasn’t hurt.

“I got hit into the goalie,” he said. “I was laying down and I got suckered a few times. Kind of a dirty play, I think. I could feel a few punches being thrown at me.”

He said Emery tried.

“After I got hit, he started to come up and swing,” Langenbrunner said. “That’s Emery.”

Down, 2-1, the Devils saw the game slip away at 10:38 of the third period when Brodeur reached out for a poke check on a loose puck in front of his crease. Brodeur dropped his stick and James Van Riemsdyk scored an unassisted goal on a wrist shot from the left hash marks, his fifth of the season.

Brodeur said he wanted to get back in his crease after the poke check and left his stick.

A power-play goal by Hartnell 44 seconds into the second period gave the Flyers a 2-0 lead.

Andy Greene was in the box for a cross-checking penalty issued with less than seven seconds remaining in the first period. Mike Richards threw the puck in front to Hartnell, who was looking for Claude Giroux but saw his pass deflect off Devils defenseman Mike Mottau and into the net.

The Devils have fallen behind in six of their last seven games and it finally caught up to them.

“You definitely hate to see the (winning streak) end,” Langenbrunner said. “We were doing a lot of good things. I wish it would’ve ended playing well, but this is usually what happens.”